Hijack suspect 'not in 9/11 plot'

Bomb-sniffer dogs searched the plane after the gun alert

VASTERAS, Sweden -- A Swedish police official has denied reports a man arrested on suspicion he was about to hijack a plane was planning to crash it into a U.S. embassy in Europe.

The man of Tunisian origin was arrested on Thursday -- days before the anniversary of the September 11 hijack attacks on the United States -- after authorities said a gun was found in his luggage as he boarded a Ryanair flight to Britain in Vasteras, an airport 100 km (60 miles) west of Stockholm.

Earlier, a military intelligence source told Reuters news agency: "We know for sure that the plan was to crash the plane into a U.S. embassy in Europe."

Police are looking for four more men, including an explosives expert, who worked with him on the plan, the sources said.

But the chief of Sweden's national security police later told The Associated Press: "It's false information... I deny it absolutely."

Security police director Margareta Linderoth insisted the suspect was not planning to crash the aircraft into a U.S. target, nor were police looking for four men.

Sweden's Sapo security police earlier said they wanted to investigate any possible links between the suspect and terrorist groups.

The man, who has not been named, was on his way from Stockholm to an Islamic conference in the British Midlands along with about 20 other people, Swedish police said at the time.

Police say the man's handgun was hidden in a toiletry bag and had been detected by a hand luggage X-ray machine.

Some of the 189 passengers who had boarded the Boeing 737-800 were asked to leave and the flight was delayed for a number of hours while bomb-sniffing dogs searched the aircraft.

The plane, flight number FR685, finally left for its journey to Stansted airport after a new crew was flown in.